"From The Bishop" - Column for June 2016 NCC

June 1, 2016

Voluntarily Cooperating In Evil Is Not An Option One of the headlines for the month has been that the Little Sisters of the Poor have found some support from the Supreme Court of the United States. While not ruling in their favor the Supreme Court directed the Courts of Appeals reviewing the case to “allow sufficient time” to “arrive at an approach going forward that accommodates petitioner’s religious exercise.” This is at least a partial victory for it means that the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious organizations will not be fined for their ‘failure’ to comply with some of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates while their cases are reviewed.

I do not intend here a full treatise on the ACA and the way and degree to which it infringes on religious liberty but I do want to point out why this is such an important moment for the Church and her institutions. There is no doubt that the Church exists in the midst of a pluralistic society and must coexist in that society with its broadly divergent views. It is one thing to coexist, it is quite another to be obligated to condone, promote, support, endorse or encourage actions permitted in our society but forbidden by our Church. Catholics, like everyone else, are required to obey the law. Laws, however, must be made in a way which fully respects the free exercise of religion. There is a perception that since the Catholic Church is engaged in many activities which touch the secular world the Church must therefore support everything which that secular society proposes as a good. This goes beyond ‘co-existence’.

Catholic hospitals do not treat only Catholics. These hospitals do not hire only Catholics. The Church is not isolationist. Institutions of the Church, however, are required to do what the Church does and avoid what the Church avoids. The Church stands very firmly against the use of artificial contraception, sterilization, abortion, mutilation, euthanasia and other ‘services’ which are opposed to the true dignity of the human person. Despite the fact that all of these things are ‘legal’ in California does not make them moral goods which the Church can condone or approve. Any imposition on the Church to provide these ‘services’ infringes on the Church’s free living out of the faith. The Church needs to be free to deliver health care in a way which is consistent with her well founded beliefs and values.

Coming to a Catholic hospital and demanding or expecting to receive something which that hospital, for good reasons of faith, cannot offer is an unjust request. In the case of the Little Sisters they offer to their employees a healthcare program consistent with Catholic moral principles and values. Their Plan does not cover contraception, abortion, abortifacient drugs or other immoral procedures or pharmaceuticals. The mandate that Church related communities or institutions provide these things in their health plans is an attempt to force them to cooperate in the very actions which we, in our Church, know to be evil. Cooperation in evil is not permitted. Even when that cooperation is not entirely voluntary there is a degree of complicity which conscientious souls cannot permit. Forcing someone to do that which their faith clearly teaches to be an evil constitutes an unjust infringement on a fundamental liberty, namely religious liberty. When that force attempts to coerce the Church Herself, or those institutions directly linked with Her, to do that which the tenets of faith prohibit then the Church must resist even to the point of enduring forms of persecution.

In some ways, investing in a company is a form of cooperation. The Church and Her institutions do not (must not) invest in stocks which are linked with evil. Conscientious Catholics do not (must not) invest in portfolios which lend support to immoral practices. For this reason, many mutual funds are not suited for Catholic or Christian investors. For instance, the USCCB policy includes: “The USCCB will not invest in companies that engage in scientific research on human fetuses or embryos that (1) results in the end of pre-natal human life; (2) makes use of tissue derived from abortions or other life-ending activities; or (3) violates the dignity of a developing person.” Voluntarily cooperating in evil is not an option.